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Are Consumer Discretionary Stocks Lagging New Oriental Education & Technology Group (EDU) This Year?

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For those looking to find strong Consumer Discretionary stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. New Oriental Education (EDU - Free Report) is a stock that can certainly grab the attention of many investors, but do its recent returns compare favorably to the sector as a whole? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Consumer Discretionary sector should help us answer this question.

New Oriental Education is one of 257 individual stocks in the Consumer Discretionary sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #1 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors.

The Zacks Rank is a proven model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. New Oriental Education is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for EDU's full-year earnings has moved 5.6% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the latest available data, EDU has gained about 0% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Consumer Discretionary sector has returned an average of -7.9% on a year-to-date basis. This means that New Oriental Education is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Another stock in the Consumer Discretionary sector, H World Group (HTHT - Free Report) , has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 5.7%.

The consensus estimate for H World Group's current year EPS has increased 8.3% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Looking more specifically, New Oriental Education belongs to the Schools industry, a group that includes 18 individual stocks and currently sits at #20 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 4.6% so far this year, so EDU is slightly underperforming its industry this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

H World Group, however, belongs to the Hotels and Motels industry. Currently, this 15-stock industry is ranked #159. The industry has moved +2.7% so far this year.

Investors with an interest in Consumer Discretionary stocks should continue to track New Oriental Education and H World Group. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.

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